World’s Strangest

Get a jump start on your holiday shopping this Thanksgiving weekend in the mental_floss store. We’ve got something for everyone: a Periodic Table Shower Curtain, The Mental Floss History of the World (now in paperback), the mental_floss board game or, for the baby on your list, a “My First Jackson Pollock” onesie—every spill is a [...]

The diving horses performed at Atlantic City’s Steel Pier in the 1920s and 1930s. The horse would jump into a tank of water, typically with a young woman riding on its back. Some dove with their front legs straight out, while others tucked up their legs as if they were going over a jump. One horse [...]

The track and field events of 100 m dash, long jump, high jump, and shot put can get kind of boring after a while. But how should they be improved? How about with a sumo suit? The people behind the Sumo Suit Athletics World Championships (motto: “slower, lower, weaker!”) aim to liberate these events from elitist [...]